The EU has announced an antitrust investigation into Microsoft bundling Teams with Office 365 and Microsoft 365 – two whole years after Slack complained to the bloc.
Rival employee communication company Slack previously told the EU that Microsoft’s flagship communication app being paired with its cloud-based business suite was damaging to competition.
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“The Commission is concerned that Microsoft may be abusing and defending its market position in productivity software by restricting competition in the European Economic Area (‘EEA’) for communication and collaboration products,” the European Commission said, announcing the probe.
According to the Commission, Slack and other rivals may not be operating on an even playing field, as Microsoft’s pairing of Teams into its suites may constitute “anti-competitive tying or bundling”.
In a statement received by Verdict, a Microsoft spokesperson said: “We respect the European Commission’s work on this case and take our own responsibilities very seriously.
“We will continue to cooperate with the Commission and remain committed to finding solutions that will address its concerns.”
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By GlobalDataSlack first complained to the EU in July 2020 about Microsoft’s bundling of Teams, the company claimed it had led to the application being forced to be installed “for millions, blocking its removal, and hiding the true cost to enterprise customers”.
At the time, Microsoft fought back against the claims and said its application had been used by “record numbers” due to the uptake of digital communication during the pandemic.
The last time Microsoft was the target of an antitrust probe by the EU was in 2009, following a similar complaint with the bundling of Internet Explorer with its Windows operating system.
Microsoft settled this by offering users a choice of rival web browsers, which satisfied the EU’s concerns at the time.
EU continues to crack down on Big Tech
The EU has been gradually increasing its regulatory pressure on Big Tech companies in the US.
This push back of regulation resulted in the inception of the country’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) last year.
The DMA’s aim is to reduce “gatekeeper” practices of large companies which provide platform services such as marketplaces, app stores, online search engines or cloud computing services in the EU.
US Big Tech companies are largely the targets of the new regulation, Verdict previously reported.
According to research analyst GlobalData, Big Tech companies not adhering to DMA rules can spend up to 10% of their global annual turnover for non-compliance.
